Rebirth and Stored Level

Rebirth is the wall between "finished the story" and "playing the endgame". You read a rebirth book in a square, your rebirth count goes up by one, and a second permanent number called stored level goes up by whatever level you brought with you. Nearly every reward past level 70 is gated on one or both of those numbers, and no amount of grinding at rebirth 0 will open them.

What a rebirth actually does

Books differ, a lot. The current Chaos Rebirth Book 1 keeps everything and only adds. The older manuals are the classic destructive version.

Items, gold, bank, PvP level and distinction level are never touched.

Skill points are the one thing every book hands you, and they are permanent. The amount depends only on the level you were when you used it.

Stored level, the number that matters

Stored level is a running total of your past lives. Your current level is not part of it. With a book that keeps your level, each rebirth adds the level you were standing at, so rebirthing at 99 every time climbs in steps of 99: 99, 198, 297, 396, 495.

Gear and skills are gated on stored level, not on rebirth count. Rebirth five times at level 80 and you sit at stored level 400 with the same rebirth count as someone who waited for 99 and sits at 495. The patient one is two gear tiers ahead.

The stat bonus

Rebirth adds flat stats on top of your normal level stats: 3 + 2n to all four for rebirth count n, and 1 + 4n to your class's main stat instead. Both are multiplied by a level bracket, so the same rebirth count is worth seven times more at 99 than at level 10.

At level 90 to 99, that works out as:

The experience bonus

From level 70 upwards, all experience you earn is multiplied by 1.2 for every rebirth you have. It stops counting after 15.

Below level 70 it is always 1.00x, whatever your rebirth count.

Skills that need a rebirth

Every playable character has seven to nine skills that do not exist at rebirth 0: the "True" upgrades of the episode 1 skills, the passive specialisations, the level 75 skill and the "Ultm." finisher.

One rebirth at 99 (stored level 99) hands you everything except the Ultm. skill, which needs stored level 180 and therefore a second rebirth. Arta is the odd one out: their level 50 "True" skill has no stored level requirement.

Sieg gets Self-Sacrificing Blow and Ultm. Thunder Strike of the Warlord, Eir gets Guard of Light and Ultm. Aura of Miracles, Yuki gets Ice Spear and Ultm. Snowstorm of Queen. Your own pair is on your character page and in the skill browser.

The gear ladder

Rebirth gear is a staircase keyed to stored level. Every rung also needs rebirth count 1 or more.

A further 676 items want rebirth 1 with no stored level at all: the Ancient ring family, and the Gillan and Kingdom Guardian pieces.

Stages and quests

Hitting rebirth 1 at level 70 automatically grants three stage licences that nothing else gives you: Cave of Summons (level 70), Tower of Ordeal (level 85) and Balmotte (Myth) (level 85).

On the quest side, 985 quests carry a rebirth requirement, nearly all of them level 70 or above: the MYTH boss dailies, the weekly raid quests, and the entrance keys for Crack of Dimension, Prison of Demon Lord, Prison of Spider God, Devastated Forest, the Tower of Ordeal and the Doom gateways. Full list in the quest browser.

Rules and gotchas

• You can only rebirth in a square. The book does nothing in a stage.
• You cannot rebirth while fishing.
• The current book has no waiting period. Older manuals count calendar months since your last rebirth, defaulting to two.
• Both bonuses apply the instant the rebirth lands.

Milestones the game tracks

The Growth achievement category is mostly rebirth tracking, 10 points each:

That is 970 points behind rebirth alone. Full list in the achievement browser.